It is known that two or more vehicles moving along the roadway can cooperate as a road train or a “platoon” for mutually providing to the vehicles within the platoon various safety and efficiency benefits. A typical vehicle platoon includes a leader vehicle and one or more follower vehicles arranged serially along a single roadway lane. More complicated platoons can span two or more roadway lanes but, overall, the goals of providing enhanced efficiency, but more importantly safety, to both the platooned vehicles as well as to the other vehicles on the roadway most usually dictate the single lane platoon incarnation.
The aerodynamic geometry of the vehicles within a platoon is a significant factor used in determining and ordering of the vehicles. As general rule, a physically smaller vehicle following a physically larger vehicle will provide a greater benefit. Since commercial box trucks and tractors towing box trailers are, in general, taller and wider than most flatbed tractor trailer combinations, a maximum aerodynamic benefit and resultant fuel savings is realized by ordering vehicles classified this way such that the commercial box trucks and tractors towing box trailers take the leader position(s) in the platoon, while the flatbed tractor trailer rigs take the follower position(s) in the platoon.
In addition to the above regarding platoon position ordering based on the physical characteristics of the individual vehicles, a small spacing between the properly ordered platooned vehicles gives greater benefit in terms of reduced energy consumption. However, a tight spacing between platooned vehicles requires that careful attention be paid to various functional operational characteristics and capabilities of the vehicles including required stopping distance, acceleration ability, deceleration ability, load and/or cargo size and/or weight, and the like. Special attention must also be paid to characteristics of the roadway such as roadway incline, decline, and turn radii.
In the single lane platoon incarnation described above, the vehicles participating in a platoon typically mutually cooperate to maintain a relatively fixed and constant (even or the same) distance between adjacent vehicles. On flat roadways, the even distance maintained between the vehicles is often fixed and constant in accordance with control protocols using global positioning systems (GPS) data sharing, and safety and efficiency algorithms. On graded roadways, the relatively even distance maintained between the vehicles is often modified to improve or otherwise maintain or enhance the overall safety and efficiency of the platoon. For example, the even distance maintained between the vehicles can be decreased during conditions of the platoon traversing an incline wherein the tendency of the overall platoon is to decrease speed slightly. Conversely, the even distance maintained between the vehicle can be increased during conditions of the platoon traversing a decline wherein the tendency of the overall platoon is to increase speed slightly. In any case, the relative distance between the vehicles of the platoon preferably remains substantially even, constant or the same in accordance with platoon control mechanisms and protocols in place.
In addition to the above, vehicles participating in a platoon typically share their positions with other vehicles of the platoon by communicating their GPS coordinate data with other vehicles using vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications (“V2V Unicast” communications), and/or vehicle-2-vehicles (V2x) communications (“V2V Multicast” communications), and/or any other suitable communications that might be available. One SAE standard is J2945 directed in general to Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), and a work in process portion of that standard is J2945/6 is directed to performance requirements for cooperative adaptive cruise control and platooning. J2945/6 is intended to define the data exchange that will be necessary for coordinated platoon maneuvers, and that definition of the categories should start with differentiating between platooning and ACC, then determining message sets and performance to realize cooperative vehicles.
Currently, the technique for vehicles participating in a platoon to share their position with other vehicles of the platoon involves determining, by each vehicle, its own GPS coordinate data, broadcasting by each vehicle its own GPS coordinate data to all of the other vehicles of the platoon using over-the-air communications (such as the J2945/6 communications), and receiving the GPS position data from all of the other vehicles of the platoon. In this way, each vehicle of the platoon knows the position(s) of each other vehicle of the platoon. The GPS coordinate data is then used by each vehicle to, among other things, establish the relatively even distance coordinated between the vehicles as generally described above.
Platoons that operate on public roadways, however, must contend with additional factors such as other vehicles. The more complicated platoon incarnations described above admits to the possibility that platoons often operate on multi-lane roadways. This being the situation, vehicles of a platoon must be able to discover or otherwise recognize non-platoon interloper vehicles disposed between two or more of the platooning vehicles so that the efficiency benefits provided by the platoon can be maintained without adversely affecting safety of the platooned vehicles or of the interloper vehicles. Platoons that operate outdoors on public roadways must contend with further facto such as weather conditions that might affect the ability of the vehicles to receive and/or interpret their GPS coordinate data from satellite sources of the like.
The present embodiments provide for a new and improved platoon management control system and method for local detection and determination of a non-platooning vehicle inserted or otherwise disposed between and/or adjacent to one or more platooning vehicle(s).
The systems and methods of the embodiments detect interloper vehicles using vehicle sensing and control processing techniques local to each of the platoon vehicles. In that way, reliance upon the functionality or ability to receive GPS signals as well as reliance upon a remote and/or centralize management control operation is not necessary, resulting in a fast and independent determination and an ability to make correspondingly fast and independent further platooning decisions when an uninvited vehicle inserts itself between a platooning vehicle pair.
The present embodiments provide for new and improved detection of extra-platoon vehicle(s) intermediate or adjacent to platoon member vehicles, for new and improved platoon maintenance with added safety benefits.